The tear of light
by bloodylucy
Summary: It's nalu-week again! 7 days - 7 prompts - 7 chapters! To make up for leaving for a mission without her, Natsu gives Lucy a pretty little jewel. But could it be, that there's more to it than meets the eye?
1. Day 1: Gifts

_Hello and welcome to my contribution for nalu-week 2014!_

_Last year I only managed to write a story for one single prompt.. but this year I'm better! This year I'm writing a single story for all the prompts!_

_If you don't know what nalu-week is, visit the madness on tumblr and while you're at it you can visit me on tumblr, too (it's bloodylucy93)_

_It's a bit stressful, I have to say, so few weeks before my exams, but I'm doing it anyway!_

_7 days - 7 prompts - 7 chapters_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**The Tear of Light**

Day 1 - Gift: Lucy's Lacrima

Lucy sat sulking in the guild and sipped on her 5th cup of sake she had together with Cana.

"My Lucy, you really have to be pissed", Cana detected, "is it really such a big deal that Natsu goes on a mission without you for a change?"

Lucy squinted her eyes and glared at Cana, but thanks to the alcohol she failed to make an intimidating impression.

"Don't be mad, Lucy, it couldn't be helped", Mira walked past them and stopped to comfort her a bit, "the mission was really urgent and you were nowhere to be found. Natsu wasn't very pleased about leaving without you, either."

But there was nothing she could say to calm Lucy down. She pulled an offended face and took another sip of the sake. Just because she had been gone to visit her father's grave, Natsu had left on a mission without her. He had never once done this ever since she had joined the guild.

"Isn't it you who always screams at him that he should go alone? How come you're mad now when he actually does it?", Cana asked.  
It was a legitimate question, but judging from Cana's knowing grin it wasn't a serious one.  
"Yes, Lucy.. why do you always need to stick around with Natsu? Could it be that you..", Mira chuckled amused as Lucy's face suddenly gained some color.

"N-no! It's not like that at all! It's just that... we're such a good team and..", Lucy muttered hastily.

Mira and Cana exchanged a telling glance and grinned broadly, so Lucy's face went even redder.

"Stop teasing me!", she screamed at them.

Just in this moment the door opened loudly and Natsu stepped in the guild.  
"We're back!", he and Happy shouted happily like always.  
"Natsu!", Lucy jumped up and was all smiles, already about to run in his direction.

But then she remembered that she was actually mad at him and stopped half-way to glare at him.

"Lucy!", Natsu noticed her mood too late and walked to her, a huge smile on his face.

That made it even worse. Lucy grumbled and clenched her fists.

"I'm back!", Natsu grinned proudly.

"Good for you..", Lucy hissed, directed her face away from him and turned to go.

"Lucy..?", Natsu's smile faded when he noticed that she wasn't too pleased about his return.

But he seemed to have been expecting this.

"Hey, wait! I'm sorry for leaving without you!", Natsu quickly apologized, but Lucy didn't care.

"I really am! I promise you I will never do it again!"

Still Lucy was unimpressed and walked towards the door.  
"I also brought you something!", he added quickly before she was gone.

Suddenly Lucy stopped and slowly turned around. Her eyes were big, but she gave her best to still look mad.

"What is it?", she asked.

"Here!", Natsu searched for something in his pocket and drew a small, yellow ball out of it.

Lucy came closer to look at it. It looked like a crystal ball, slightly gleaming lightly yellow, almost white.

"The merchant said it's called.. Lu.. Lush.. Luz..", Natsu thought about it strained.

"Lucis Lacrima!", Happy helped him.

"Ah, right! That..", he didn't dare to repeat it, "I thought it sounded like Lucy's Lacrima so I just had to buy it for you!"

He gave it to Lucy, who had already blushed again and stared at the lacrima. It was so beautiful and mesmerizing that she couldn't take her eyes off it.

"Thank you, Natsu. Thank you so much!"

It made her happy to get a present from Natsu. It wasn't even her birthday after all and it showed her just how much he had thought about her.  
Now she felt stupid for being mad at him, and she rewarded him with the happiest smile she could manage. Natsu blushed and winked a few times.

"I-I'm glad you like it!", he quickly said before he lost his words completely, "Next time, let's go on a mission together!"

"OK!", Lucy agreed happily.


	2. Day 2: Vulnerable

Day 2 – Vulnerable: The get-well-charm

How could she have been so stupid? Lucy tried her best to hold back the tears as she was running through the streets of Magnolia, but it was useless.

Has she really just been seeing things? Has she imagined all of that? The way Natsu looked at her and smiled at her.. and the way he talked sometimes.. and he even made her presents.. so was it really wrong of her to think that there could be more between them than friendship?

She has taken it all as a sign, built up all her courage and has asked him out. She had asked him whether he wanted to go out in a restaurant with her.

All that stupid idiot has done was looking at her dumbfounded with big eyes and then finally said 'But I'm not hungry, now'.

IDIOT! That's what Lucy had called him, had slapped him right in his face and now she was still running away.

Where did she run to exactly? She didn't even know anymore, the tears clouded her sight. Suddenly she felt something blocking her foot, it got stuck beneath a root, she tripped and rolled down a hillside.

When it had finally stopped she breathed heavily to calm down and tried to stand up. A scream of pain came from her throat. Her foot hurt like hell.

She turned around to look at it, and realized that her whole leg was covered in blood and her foot slowly swelled. Could it be that it was broken? It was impossible to step on it.

This way she had no chance to get back to Magnolia? What should she do?

There she heard a voice calling her name from far away. Natsu. No, she didn't want to see him. She didn't want him to see her in this situation.. but it was already too late.

"Lucy!", Natsu had found her and jumped down the hill towards her. "What are you doing here?"

Lucy didn't answer. She refused to talk to him.

"Are you alright?", he asked her, but soon found the answer himself.

"You're hurt!", he looked at her foot with shocked eyes. "Wait I'll help you." He reached for her foot.

"I'm fine!", Lucy lied and wanted to draw her foot away, but that only caused her to scream again once more of pain.

"You're not!", Natsu bowed over her and looked a bit desperate.

"Listen.. Lucy.. I'm sorry if I hurt you before", Natsu tried to apologize even though he obviously didn't know what for.

"I..", Natsu carefully grabbed Lucy's leg and lifted it up a bit, then started to wipe the blood away with a piece of cloth. "I seem to be an idiot."

He didn't come to this conclusion on his own. Most likely the other girls in the guild have been scolding him until he had understood it.

"Yes, you are!", Lucy said.

With Natsu's touch her heart started to beat stronger, but she wouldn't have expected what was about to come now.

Natsu stared at her swelling foot and suddenly put his lips on it. They felt hot even on her hurting, pulsating foot. And it pulsated even more with the rest of her body now.

Lucy gasped. Has this been his own idea or did someone tell him to do this.

Natsu raised his head and smiled at Lucy. "A get-well-charm", he said casually.

Lucy's face was high red as she stared at Natsu with big eyes. He noticed this and returned her gaze a bit confused.

Then, it seemed, he realized what he just had done and his face color came closer to his hair color.  
He turned his head away and reached Lucy his hand.

"Let's head back. I'll carry you."

Lucy didn't have the willpower left to be mad at him anymore, so she said nothing when Natsu took her on his back and headed to Magnolia.

"You know, Lucy..", Natsu mumbled a bit reluctant, then got a bit louder.  
"I didn't mean to hurt you. I never do.. so when I say something stupid.. I really don't mean it."

Lucy nodded knowingly. Of course he was right. Maybe it was just Lucy who was too vulnerable.

"It's ok. It's just because you're an idiot after all", she giggled and kissed Natsu on the temple.

Natsu stopped, spit a little flame and asked with his head as red as fire:

"Wh-what was that for?!"

"A get-well-charm for your head. Maybe it'll make you smarter."


	3. Day 3: Ribbon

_Welcome to the third chapter already! The point where it would be of advantage to have read the other chapters slowly approaches.._

_The prompt is ribbon and I have to say.. I really had a hard time writing something to this topic_

_So forgive me if it doesn't really fit, but I tried :D_

* * *

Day 3 – Ribbon: To always carry it with me

No! No no no no no! It couldn't be!

Lucy searched her room for the third time now, it looked like a bomb had exploded. When she had finally understood that it was useless, she let herself fall on the bed and cried.

Why did this have to happen? She's been so careful with it and now it was gone after all.

"What's wrong, Lucy?", she suddenly heard a voice right above her.

She flinched and looked up, seeing Natsu sitting in her window. No, no, not Natsu. She wasn't prepared to see him, yet.  
"What are you doing in other peoples' houses?!", she shouted at him enraged, "Get out!"

Lucy jumped up to kick him out, but Natsu easily stopped her with one hand and looked at her worried.

"What happened?", he asked again.

The anger faded from Lucy's face, she sobbed a couple of times and finally burst into tears once again falling into Natsu's arms.

"I'm so sorry!", she cried.

Natsu was confused. Why should she apologize to him?

"What?"

"Do you still remember that lacrima you gave me the other day?", Lucy whined.

Only a couple of days ago Natsu had returned from a mission and had given Lucy a gift. A small yellow stone, a lacrima. Lucis Lacrima it seemed to have been called.

"I can't find it anywhere! I must have lost it! I'm so sorry!", she was totally hysterical.

Natsu was even more confused and patted Lucy's head a bit to calm her down.  
That was the reason why she cried like that? That little thing he had given to her? Was it really that important to her? It made him a bit happy, to be honest.

"Come on, Lucy.. it's okay. When was the last time you have seen it?", he tried to ask her, but she still was too messed up to answer.

"Was it before or after you fell down the hill?", he tried again.

Only recently, after a fight he has had with Lucy, she had run away and fallen down a hill.

Suddenly Lucy's body stopped shaking and the tears stopped as well. She looked up to Natsu with huge eyes, like she had just realized something.

"Before..", she whispered.

* * *

Just how were they supposed to find anything here? The grass was higher than Happy. Lucy had already given up hope before they even started, but Natsu was confident.

If it was something important to Lucy, he would make sure that he could retrieve it.

He took a deep breath through his nose and tried his best to get some track of the stone, but what smell did this thing have? Did it even have any smell? If it smelled like Lucy a bit, he couldn't make out anything apart from herself.

"I found it!", Lucy suddenly squealed.

"What..?!", Natsu couldn't suppress his surprise.

How could Lucy find it that easily?! She was all smiles, holding the yellow ball proudly in her hands.

"I don't know.. I kinda felt it. It's small but it has a surprisingly great magic power."  
So that's what it was. It was a Lacrima after all, it held magic power in it. It was no miracle that Lucy could sense and find it.

Of course Natsu would have liked to find it and be Lucy's hero, but seeing her that happy made up for the little disappointment.

The next day Lucy appeared with another proud grin in the guild. There was something different about her, but Natsu couldn't really tell what it was.

"Look!", Lucy shone like the sun and Natsu panicked.  
"Yeah.. really great!", he said. What was it?! New haircut? New clothes? Just what?!

"This way I will never loose it again!", she continued, luckily not having noticed Natsu's ignorance.

"Oh!", now Natsu understood it.

It was the small little yellow gleam coming from her neck. She had bound the Lacrima into a black silk ribbon right around it.

"Now I will always carry your present with me..", Lucy mumbled.

Even though it sounded a bit stupid and childish, Natsu blushed and got hot. For some reason this triviality made him really, really happy. He didn't really care about girls accessories, but he kind of liked this ribbon.


	4. Day 4: Promise

_Day 4!_

_If you start wondering whether there will ever be some storyline in this.. yes, there will! Starting tomorrow ;)_

_Today's chapter is a bit foreshadowing _

* * *

Day 4 – Promise: The light in the darkness

It was dark. So incredibly dark. Natsu couldn't see a thing. How did he even get here? He couldn't remember a thing.. what was this place?

Usually Natsu had no problems with the darkness. He could easily make some fire to light the place up a bit. But out of some reasons he couldn't. He just couldn't use any magic no matter how hard he tried.

It was like some weird blockade in his head. Or was it in his head? He didn't understand a thing, all that he knew was that it was dark and that he couldn't use magic. And that he didn't like this at all.

"Heeeelloooo? Anybody here?", Natsu yelled in the darkness and was answered by his own echo.

"Where am I?!", he tried it again, but still there was no one answering but himself.

By the sound of it, he was somewhere in a cave. That would fit to the stony, moist smell lingering around.

"Happy!", he had to be somewhere around here, right? Natsu would have never gone anywhere without him.

"Lucy?!", or without her.

But still, there was no one to be seen. No one to be heard.

With every step Natsu made he felt more uncomfortable. It wasn't really like him to feel anguish or anything, but the darkness and moistness depressed him. The fact that he had no idea where he was and how he had get here made him uneasy. The thought that he might never get out of this place again crept into his head.

It became harder to walk, a weird power drew him to the ground, as if gravity increased with every move he made.

Soon he was forced down on his knees and breathed heavily. Weird pictures came to his mind. A beast, a light, blonde hair. He heard a scream and flinched.

As soon as he had seen it, the pictures already disappeared from his memories. Only the fear and the misgivings remained. What had that been? A memory? A look into the future?

Whatever it had been, it had left only one thought in Natsu's mind. Lucy. She was in danger. He needed to help her.

He wanted to stand up, but it was futile. No matter how hard he tried to persuade his knees, they just wouldn't do what he wanted.

As the despair was about to devour him whole, he suddenly saw a light floating in the darkness. It was small and yellow, first dim than gradually growing brighter. It headed in his direction.

The closer it got, the better Natsu felt. The strength returned to his bones, his eyes were glued on the small little light.

As it was close enough, he could make out black silk gleaming in the light. It looked like a ribbon was bound around the light.

And then she finally stood in front of him, Lucy. She looked deeply into his eyes and smiled at him, the light from her lacrima bound into the ribbon around the neck lightening the place up.

"I will save you..", Natsu told her, because it was the first thing it came into his mind. Even though there was obviously no need to save her.

Lucy giggled. "Idiot!", she said, "this time I'm here to save you!"

She reached her hand out to Natsu and as he took it, he suddenly felt all his strength and magic returning to his body. He felt relieved and happy, but still quite confused.

"Don't just assume that it's always you who has to save me! This time it's the other way around!"

She didn't let go and led him through the cave.

"There's no need to be afraid, because I'm always by your side", she smiled.  
Natsu was so overwhelmed by the whole absurdity of this situation that he couldn't even claim that he hasn't been afraid one bit.  
"I'll be the light that guides you out of the darkness."

Natsu said nothing. He just followed her, holding her hand tightly. Yes, she was right. She was his light. Without her, he would have remained in this darkness forever.

"Hey, Natsu..", Lucy turned around to him. There was something weird in her smile.

"..what are you doing in my bed?!"

Natsu opened his eyes and looked in a more than creepy smile of that woman who had just been so nice to him.

The sun was shining, there was no cave anymore, and he was lying in Lucy's bed. A dream..?

Natsu was still too sleepy to take Lucy's anger seriously and he was still too mesmerized by his dream.

"Lucy..", he raised his head and looked in her eyes. Their faces were only inches apart.

"Y-yeah..?", Lucy blushed, surprised by this sudden closeness.

"You'll always be by my side, right?", he asked her.

"Wh-what?", Lucy stuttered.

"You'll be my light, right? You'll always show me the way, will you?", his voice was almost a whisper.

"Natsu? What's wrong with you?", she was utterly confused.

"Promise!", Natsu insisted.

"Ok! I promise.. I will always stay by your side", she gave in, blushing even more.

Natsu didn't seem to be the only one who liked the sound of that.

"I will be your light, whatever you mean with this..", she avoided Natsu's eyes.

"And I will show you your way.. if you need that.."

Natsu smiled broadly, he was more than content with hearing this. Lucy dared to look into Natsu's eyes one more time and almost collapsed because her knees got that weak.

"And I'll start by showing you the way out of my house!", she took all her courage together, pushed the thoughts popping up in her head away and decided to be angry again.

"Wait.. what? But Lucy!", but before Natsu could complain, Lucy had already thrown him out of the window.


	5. Day 5: Dare

_And it's already Day 5! As I promised yesterday there will be some actualy storyline now _

_Now it'd really be a good idea to read the whole thing, so you understand the references ;)_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Day 5: Dare - The nightmare comes true  


"Here it is!", Gray claimed with a broad smile on his lips and threw a mischievous glance in Natsu's direction. "Already shitting your pants?"

"Pah!", Natsu snorted and raised his fist. "As if such a boring place would intimidate me! You must be so scared that you can't think clearly anymore!"

The boys were already about to fight again, but Lucy and Juvia quickly grabbed their guys and held them back.

"Hey.. calm down. Are you.. are you really serious about this?!", Lucy couldn't suppress the panic in her voice.

"Juvia doesn't care as long as she is toghether with Gray-sama!", Juvia quickly added.

They were standing in front of a dark, creepy looking cave that Grea had found on a mission and wanted to explore. Great idea, really, but the way he planned to explore it was a bit..

"Come on, Natsu! I dare you to walk through this cave without using magic!", Gray pointed into the darkness. "And don't think will be coming to get you if you start whining!"

"Oh, we're going to stroll through this like through a park in daylight and you will sink into the ground when you pee your pants after us! Right, Lucy?", Natsu hissed at Gray.

"Uhm..", somehow Lucy was of a different opinion, "Guys, please let's don't do this! We don't even know what's in there! It could be anything.. and without magic.. pleeaaase!"

But as Lucy was still whining Natsu had already grabbed her hand and dragged her into cave. Gray and Juvia smiled and waved and suddenly Lucy got the feeling that there was more to it than just a dare.

It was really incredibly dark in here, there was nothing to be seen in this cave. Lucy grabbed Natsu's hand as tightly as she could, fearing she could loose him.

Her heart beat ringing in her ears made it also hard for her to hear anything and loosing two senses in this kind of place made it even worse. But still she felt safer with feeling Natsu's presence.

"It's really.. really dark..", Lucy mumbled, "but hey.. the Lacrima glows really bright, it brings some light."

She tried to see the positive things. And it was true, the small stone she had got from Natsu and had bound around her neck with a ribbon was glowing brightly. It calmed her down a bit.

But on Natsu it seemed to have the contrary effect. He suddenly stopped and looked at her a bit shocked. It seemed like he had just remembered something.

"Is everything all right?", Lucy asked, the calmness disappearing instantly again.  
"No.. no it's fine! Let's hurry so we can wipe Gray his stupid grin off his face!", Natsu's voice shook a bit and he tightened his grasp of Lucy's hand so it almost hurt.

Even though she could barely see the features of his face, Lucy stared at it. It was rare to see Natsu like this.

"Hey Lucy.. do you remember the promise you gave me? That you would never leave my side?", Natsu asked sounding slightly anxious.

"Uhm.. yes..", Lucy was glad that Natsu couldn't see her face blushing in the darkness, "Say, Natsu, are you really frightened?"

She giggled a bit. To be honest, it took her own fear away a bit. Although she knew that if Natsu was anxious one day, it was the very end.  
"Yes..", Natsu admitted, "I'm afraid of loosing you.."

Lucy's heart skipped a beat and she blushed even more. Had he really just said that?

"But Natsu.. it's not that easy to loose me, since I'm glowing!", why was she comforting him now, when her own jelly knees already refused to carry her any further?

"That's right!", Natsu sounded like he was smiling. "You're my light after all!"

The things that happenend next, happened so fast that it was hard to grasp. First Natsu felt a slight float of air in his face, then there was a howl, a shriek scream right next to him and before he could react the tiny light was gone and his hand was empty.

"Lucy!", Natsu screamed as loud as he could. The cave was on fire, the flames dispelled the darkness and devoured everything, but Lucy wasn't to be seen.

From one moment to the other the nightmare had become reality and there had been nothing Natsu could have done to prevent this from happening.


	6. Day 6: Effulgence

_Day 6! Please take note of the fact that this is the continuation from yesterday's chapter (or rather all chapters so far)_

_I could have written this a lot longer and more detailed.. but it's already so late and I'm so tired and.._

_it would have just been too much.. so maybe it ended up a bit to rushed_

* * *

Day 6: Effulgence - The tear of light

Natsu ran through the burning cave, following the faint remaining trace of smell he got from Lucy. But soon the smell of smoke grew stronger and with every new flame he cast, Natsu's strength faded. It was weird, the magic left his body much faster than usually.

But he had no choice, he had to find Lucy. As quickly as possible. No matter the cost.

Suddenly he heard something ringing in his ears, it was a scream, a squeal so high and loud that it was on the verge of bursting his hearing.

He held his hands to his ears and went down on his knees, breathing heavily and trying to fight the headache. This one moment of weakness caused the flames to burn out and the darkness returned.

There it was again, the air touching his face, the squeal in his ears. He felt dozens of little bodies flying around him, winged creatures, but without feathers.

Whatever they were doing to him, it seemed like they were drawing the last remains of his magical power out of his body. Natsu was overcome by dizziness and pain and if it hadn't been already as dark as hell, his sight would have been black now.

But he couldn't collapse now. Lucy!

With the last bit of magic inside him he burst into flames and a huge pack of bats fled from him screaming loudly. He forced himself back on his feet and ran right after them.

He didn't know why, but he knew that they would lead him to Lucy. It was so similar to his dream, but it wasn't the same. She wouldn't come to him, smiling and laughing, leading him back. No, this time he really needed to save her.

Without any flames left to guide him the way, he blindly followed the trace of the bats, the only thing keeping his feet running was his thoughts of Lucy.

When he finally reached a room alighted slightly by a dim white light, he sank to his knees once again. This time it was relief.

He looked at Lucy, floating there in the air with a pained expression on her face. No, she wasn't floating, there was something behind her, grabbing her tightly and restraining her movements.

Natsu gasped when he saw what it was. It was a huge bat, twice the size of Lucy, holding her with its claws and grinning mischievously at Natsu.

"Natsu..", she whispered at the verge of her strength. She sounded delighted and worried at the same time.

"It's eating.. magic..", she told him.  
That suddenly explained everything. The fact that Natsu lost his magic that quickly, that it was completely gone after the bat attack. That thing and his little friends had worn him and Lucy completely out. How where they supposed to fight back?

Natsu would have simply kicked this bat's ass, whether he had energy left or not, but just as he had thought about it another pack of bats attacked him. With these things flying around him and weakening him even more there was no way he could counterattack.

But somehow they seemed different than before, they were weakened as well. Something seemed to bother them, something that hadn't been there before.

"Kyaa!", Lucy started screaming.

Natsu tried to push the bats away to see what was going on, but he could barely lift his hand. Still he saw that the beast was bearing its fangs at Lucy's neck.

No! Natsu wanted to leap forward but the bats wouldn't let him and he already heard the sharp sound of tearing cloth.

The bats made some pained squeals as the ribbon was ripped and the gleaming stone fell on the ground. It was the lacrima that made some light in this cave and disturbed the bats.

The stone rolled right in front of Natsu's hand and the bats had to back of into the darkness. But still they refused to give up and went on tormenting Natsu with their squeals.

And suddenly, as if someone or something had told him, Natsu knew what to do. He reached for the lacrima and took it in his mouth. For the moment he swallowed it, the darkness returned to the place and the bats regained their former persistence.

For this one moment.

The next one, Natsu roared so loud, that the whole cave shook and the black turned into white. As if they had fallen right into the sun, there was a light so bright that Lucy was blinded and the bats were burnt alive.

Natsu had absorbed the magic of the lacrima. Light. Lucis Lacrima. Who would have thought that it would have been so strong?

The brightness slowly got weaker and when Lucy's eyesight returned to her, she found Natsu's lifeless body lying on the ground.

"Natsu!", she yelled in shock and ran to him. His eyes were closed and he wasn't breathing anymore.

Lucy's heart stopped. No.. this couldn't be. Had it been to much? Was this what happened when he ate things other than fire to often?

"Natsu!", tears ran down her cheeks, "Natsu! Wake up!"

She let her head fall on Natsu's breast in her desperation and suddenly Natsu started coughing. Lucy's eyes gaped and she drew back, watching Natsu coughing a bit more until he spit out a small, black ball. The lacrima had lost his light and turned dark.

"I'm sorry..", Natsu croaked while panting for some air, "I broke it.."

But Lucy didn't care. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried some more.

"Natsu...", she whined, "You said I'm your light.. but you shine so much brighter."


	7. Day 7: Future

_And before you know it nalu week is already over again.. I hope you enjoyed it! I can't believe I managed all my contribution on time.._

_I really had a lot of fun, thanks to everyone for reading!_

_Enjoy the last chapter and the last day :)_

* * *

Day 7 – Future - The tears of the sun  


The next day Lucy stood on top of a hill and looked down on Magnolia. She couldn't really explain it, but she felt happy and kind of relieved.

No matter how much fear she had felt during their adventure in the cave, she was kind of glad now that it had happened like that.

Now, for the first time she felt certain. Certain about her feelings and about what she wanted.

"There you are!", she heard a voice approaching from behind. It was Natsu.

"Are you alright?", he asked her, looking a bit worried.

"Yes!", she smiled at him. She had never been better.

"I'm glad you got out of this thing unhurt..", Natsu mumbled. Maybe he was blaming himself because he had let it get that far.

"Thanks to you", she answered.

"Thanks to your lacrima", Natsu corrected her. "Oh!"

He finally noticed that Lucy still carried the lacrima around her neck. It was pitch black now, the light was gone, and Lucy had changed the black ribbon to a white one so it would fit better.

"A white ribbon..", Natsu stared at it and it was almost visible how his thoughts drifted off.

"This would fit your wedding dress..."

"My what..?", Lucy turned red and stuttered, disbelieving her ears.

Natsu blushed as well as he realized what he had said out loud and turned away.

"I mean.. someday.. it's not like I imagined you in wedding dresses or.. had any weird thoughts..", his voice overturned as he tried to find a way to get himself out of this situation. But it was already too late.

"Natsu..", Lucy said his name in a tone that couldn't be identified.

Natsu turned his head to her, prepared for being hit or shouted at or anything. But not for what she actually did.  
She jumped at him, wrapped his arms around his neck and suddenly her lips were on his. Natsu flinched for one moment, but then the heat consumed his head and made him act by himself.

He closed his eyes, put his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him. When their lips parted again, the tears ran down from Lucy's eyes.

"Is it ok for me.. to stay by your side forever?", she asked him reluctantly.

"Idiot", Natsu answered, "I'm insisting on it. You promised me after all."

Lucy blushed some more and put her head on his breast. She listened to his heart beating like crazy, just like her own.

"I need you.. you're my light..", Natsu whispered and kissed her hair.

"But it was you who shone like the sun..", Lucy giggled, a bit amused by Natsu's words that sounded irrational to her.

"That was an exception..", Natsu said, "You're brighter than me. You're my sun."

Lucy still wasn't convinced. If it was her who was the sun, then why did Natsu's words warm her up like that? Why did she feel so safe and comfortable in his presence?

She sobbed and big tears of delight and happiness ran down her cheeks. They rolled down her chin and some landed right on her blackened lacrima.

It started glowing a bit and a white shimmer glimmered in it before it turned black again. But wasn't it brighter than before?

"See? Your tears are like light. Isn't this prove enough that you are the sun?", Natsu laughed.

They were both a bit mesmerized by this play of colors. Did this mean that the lacrima absorbed light, positive energy, and had the ability to release it again?

"Do you think it will turn white again some day?", Lucy wondered.

"Maybe..", Natsu furrowed his brows and looked like he didn't like this idea too much.

"This means that we have to marry soon, before you need to wear a black ribbon again", he stated casually.

Lucy's face instantly went high red again.

"Was this.. a proposal?!", she stuttered unable to believe it.

"Why are you surprised?", Natsu shrugged, "I told you, I want to be together with you forever."

Saying this, he drew her closer to him again and kissed her. Lucy couldn't resist. She closed her eyes and watched the pictures dancing in her mind.

She saw herself in a beautiful white dress, with the happiest smile in the world on her lips and Natsu standing beside her. She saw them going on more missions together, holding hands, saving each other and kissing each other.

And then she saw Natsu, exhaustedly sleeping with his head on her lap, as the children were laughing and running around in the garden.  
This time it was her, who saw the future. Even though she knew that no one could know what the morning would bring, she wanted this future so badly and she felt so close to it right now. As if she could simply reach out her hand and touch it, feel the warmth that was waiting for her.

But for now she felt the warmth of her present even more, with Natsu's kiss and touches getting more passionate and demanding.

The future belonged to them and it looked so promising, that Lucy allowed herself a bit desire and cried one last tear before she responded to Natsu's burning kisses.


End file.
